The Long and short of Fleetwood Town’s attacking options

Chris Long (right) celebrates scoring for Fleetwood Town against Coventry City

Rosie Swarbrick

Published:06:00Saturday 10 September 2016

Fleetwood head coach Uwe Rosler says on-loan striker Chris Long has the right levels of fitness, motivation and confidence ahead of today’s game against Charlton.

Long has netted twice in Town’s last two league wins as Rosler men moved up to third in the League One table.

And Rosler hopes to make the Burnley man more accustomed to league football by getting games under his belt.

Rosler said: “We fought off a lot of opposition to get Chris and with Chris in my opinion it is a matter that he needs to get a string of games under his belt.

“You see his record he went to Brentford, played 11 games, then he went to Burnley, played more or less coming off the bench, then he got injured and I think for him he is at an age where for the first time in his career he hopefully will get 40-plus games with us and I think that will make him very robust to league football.

“There is a big difference to keep it going for five, six, 10 games instead of doing it for 40-plus, that will be a big challenge for him.

“But right now he has the right fitness, the right motivation and obviously he has confidence.”

But Rosler also highlighted the other forwards with David Ball, Ash Hunter, Devante Cole and the injured Aaron Amadi-Hollway (hamstring) also off the mark.

New Watford loanee Alex Jakubiak is yet to feature for the first team but is also in contention for today’s game.

Rosler said: “(Chris) has got off the mark but I will also highlight his team-mates up front.

“Bally has already scored three goals, Ash Hunter has scored three goals, Devante Cole is off the mark and now we have Alex Jakubiak, a proven goalscorer, added to our squad I think the goals are coming from everywhere.

“I’m very happy about the different type of strikers we have but the main thing is that they are buying in to our team philosophy and at the moment they are doing that really well.

“I think (Ball and Hunter) make it very difficult for defenders because they can interchange positions, they have pace and they can also get to the ball and play different types of games.

“The main thing is that all of them realise we have a demanding game. It is a long season and everybody will get their fair share of games.”